James J. Clark
1879-1961. Iowa City fire chief for nearly 30 years, organized first three-man professional department in 1912, having volunteered the previous five years in a fire police unit whose job emphasized crowd control rather than firefighting. The huge Metropolitan Hall fire that year, opening a site for Jefferson Building construction, prompted the city council to buy firefighting equipment, including a matched pair of legendary white horses named Snowball and Highball to pull it, and to hire three full-time paid firemen. During two stints as its chief (1912-29 and 1937-49), he transitioned the department from horses to motorized engines.